Not for profit, but for use: is philosophy good for practice?

In what contexts, and under what circumstances, applying philosophical insight is both useful and commendable? In this paper I will first identify a framework of practice where philosophical investigation can prove its worth. I will then analyse some of the epistemic conditions that allow philosophy to take up challenges originating from practice, and how philosophical inquiry is to respond to those challenges. I will make use of two illustrations from the specific field of the philosophy of science to demonstrate how philosophy and practice can interact, and with what consequences for both fields. In so doing a more general idea of applied philosophy will emerge, able not only to address but (in a sense that will be qualified) to ‘engage with’ practice.